Serbu Firearms BFG-50A

Just holding a .50 Browning Machine Gun (BMG) round in your hand gives you a formidable weapon. In a fistfight, you could wrap your fist around it like a roll of nickels and put some extra “wumph” in your punch. As far as impact weapons go, I’d much rather have a .50 round to gouge with than a fist full of car keys. But, when you lower the bolt on this round, it takes shooting a shoulder-fired weapon to a whole new level.

Although designated as an anti-materiel round, legendary sniper Gunnery Sergeant Carlos Hathcock mounted a scope on a Browning M2 and killed a Vietcong guerilla at 2,500 yards in 1967. Eclipsing Hathcock’s record shot in 2002, Canadian sniper Rob Furlong further proved the long-range effectiveness of the .50 BMG round when he killed a Taliban terrorist at 2,657 yards.

With Barrett Firearms just down the road from where I live, I’ve had ample opportunity to sample several of the company’s firearms. Its M82 .50 BMG semi-auto put Barrett Firearms on the map, and the U.S. military has called upon Barrett to update the weapon a bit with the military designated M107A1. Suffice it to say, I’ve tested my share of “big .50s.” Not long after testing the M107B, their latest, lighter-weight version, for this magazine, I garnered the attention of other .50 BMG rifle-builders. That’s how I met Mark Serbu, owner of Serbu Firearms of Tampa, Florida.

Serbu Firearms is a small, very capable firearms design and manufacturing company. Founded in 1996 by mechanical engi-
neer Mark Serbu, the company has carved out a niche producing .50 BMG rifles and short-barreled shotguns. Their staple products are the semi-automatic BFG-50A and single-shot BFG-50 .50 BMG rifles as well as the Super-Shorty 12-gauge shotgun.

Bringing The BFG
Oftentimes, various law enforcement SWAT teams replicate and employ military-issue weapons systems in their duties to protect and serve. And sometimes, SWAT countersnipers need more firepower than many sniper systems provide. The words of legendary writer Peter Hathaway Capstick, “Use enough gun when hunting big game,” apply when an officer is called upon to stop a truck or a barricaded aggressor. In today’s world, who knows what some terrorist might have up his sleeve. And, with Department of Homeland Security responsibilities added to the mix of local law enforcement, it’s prudent to bring enough gun to the fight if necessary. Before now, law enforcement agencies had few choices if they wanted to add an autoloading .50 BMG rifle to their arsenal. That’s now changed since the Serbu BFG-50A came along.